This invention provides improvements over the inventor's three earlier inventions: a first involving an auto-multiscopic 3D billboard display system, a second involving an auto-multiscopic 3D display system, and a third involving a system operating on light to capture images or produce a three-dimensional display.
The first invention is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/084,221 (the '221 application), filed 29 Mar. 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,411,167 (the '167 patent), issued 9 Aug. 2016: The '221 application and the '167 patent are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. The '167 patent is for a billboard display system that utilizes a light source housed in a box-like structure. The light source shines light away from a non-transparent front wall and through a transparent rear wall and thence through a sheet of projection film having an array of images thereon and thence is reflected by a corresponding array of concave mirrors back to corresponding apertures. The apertures are formed at the bottom of indentations, preferably cone-shaped throughout the area of the front wall. The light passes through the apertures and thence out of the indentations to create a 3D image in the eyes of a viewer looking at the front wall.
The second invention is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/167,489 (the '489 application), filed 27 May 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,491,444 (the '444 patent) on 8 Nov. 2016: The '489 application and the '444 patent are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. The '444 patent teaches an auto-multiscopic 3D display system utilizing one or more transparent organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays and Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) to enable full motion 3D displays. This display system is expected to display dynamic 3D images on flat screen televisions, monitors, tablets, smartphones, and other electronic display devices without any need for 3D enabling glasses. The term auto-multiscopic is used to define a display that allows multiple viewers to view three-dimensional scenes on a display, simultaneously and without the need for 3D glasses.
The third invention is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/375,093 (the '093 application), filed 11 Dec. 2016, expected to be U.S. Pat. No. 9,762,892 (the '892 patent), to be issued on 12 Sep. 2017. The '093 application and the '892 patent are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. The '093 application teaches an apparatus for displaying and/or capturing auto-multiscopic 3D images using a concave mirror array; a parallax barrier with an array of first transparent spots or lines extending through the parallax barrier; and a membrane between the opaque outer wall and the concave mirror array. The membrane is capable of displaying an intrinsic image when illuminated, sensing an image projected onto it, displaying an image projected onto it, and/or emitting light. The membrane includes a second transparent spot or line atop each first transparent spot or line respectively. A light source may illuminate the membrane and/or project an image onto the membrane. The reflective concave surface also may be configured to permit some light to pass through it and when so configured a second transparent solid and/or an image sensor may be placed behind the concave mirror array.
The present invention teaches improvements to the systems described in the '167 patent, the '444 patent and '093 application in order to provide a device operable for displaying auto-multiscopic 3D images using an electromechanical system with controllable mirrors that are not necessarily concave mirrors. These mirrors can reflect light on or off clear spots or lines in an image source layer located between the electromechanical system and a parallax barrier, which clear spots or lines are ideally aligned with corresponding transparent spots or lines in a parallax barrier that forms the front of the display system. In some embodiments, the size, shape, number and location of the transparent spots or lines in the parallax barrier can be changed.